No surprise – three Spanish sides, title-holder Sabadell, last season’s runner-up Mataro, newcomer St. Andreu and the 2021 and 2022 champions Olympiacos from Greece advance to the finals. Interestingly, all four sides secured their respective berth by five-goal away wins on Day 5.
Group A
CN Terrassa (ESP) v CN St Andreu (ESP) 6-11, SIS Roma (ITA) v Ekipe Orrizonte (ITA) 11-10
Standings: 1. St Andreu 14, 2. Terrassa 9, 3. Roma 4, 4. Orizzonte 3
St Andreu made no mistake as well as made history by reaching the Champions League Final Four for the first time in its history.
The decisive win came in Terrassa, in one of the neighbouring pools in the Barcelona suburbs.
In the Spanish derby, St Andreu controlled the match right from the beginning.
Terrassa tried to put up some fight and managed to stay close till the third period, but after 5-7, three connecting goals from the favourites decided the outcome.
The five-goal blast from the visitors in the third was enough, the last eight minutes saw one goal apiece and a second penalty save by Spain’s national team’s goalie Martina Terre.
The other match was about prestige in Italy and Roma and Orizzonte indeed staged a fierce contest.
In the fourth, Roma took a 9-7 lead, Orizzonte replied with a 0-3 rush, however, the hosts had the last laugh as they netted the last two goals to clinch their first win in the group stage.
Group B
Alimos NAC Betsson (GRE) v Astralpool Sabadell (ESP) 8-13, Dunaujvaros (HUN) v Mulhouse WP (FRA) 13-11
Standings: 1. Sabadell 15, 2. Alimos 6, 3. Mulhouse 5, 4. Dunaujvaros 4
If anyone thought that title-holder Sabadell would enjoy another comfortable journey in Greece – as they thrashed Alimos 14-7 at home – that idea faded quickly in the opening period.
Though Sabadell opened the scoring, Alimos then stunned them with a 5-0 run – an astonishing display of water polo at both ends of the pool.
A late penalty goal helped the Spaniards to start their ‘recovery process’ – and even though Alimos hit another one in the second for 6-2, then Sabadell took control.
Their two master-shooters, Bea Ortiz and Judith Forca hit three goals in a span of 67 seconds (!) for 5-6 and that killed the Greeks’ momentum.
A second wave of the storm came in the third, as three more goals came, this time in 81 seconds and Sabadell seemed to have it at 6-8.
However, the Greeks could finally find the back of the net, after 9:28 minutes, then denied Sabadell’s six on five and Iro Karipidou netted one from action to equalise at 8-8.
And the hosts had a penalty to retake the lead, but Laura Ester made a crucial save and Beatriz Ortiz sent Sabadell ahead once more a bit later for 8-9, with her fifth goal in the game.
She then set up Paula Leiton in the centre, from their first possession in the fourth, which doubled Sabadell’s lead.
Soon, Sofia Giustini hit another one from action and when Maica Garcia scored another action goal, selling one of her trademark centre-shots, it was over at 8-12 with 3:55 on the clock.
Irene Casado hit Sabadell’s fourth action goal alone in this last period to close down the contest.
It was telling, that Alimos scored for 6-2 early in the second, then the Greeks could add only two more goals while conceding 11 – though it was rather more proof of the class Sabadell represents.
In the other game, Dunaujvaros snatched their first win, against Mulhouse, after a fine match with a handful of twists and turns.
The Hungarians jumped to an early lead, the French had a better spell and rushed to 6-8 in front early in the third, only to see the hosts hitting four to go 10-9 up before the last break – and they kept this advantage till the end.
Group C
FTC-Telekom Budapest (HUN) v CN Mataro (ESP) 8-13, Ethnikos Piraeus (GRE) v DIGI-Eger (HUN) 14-11
Standings: 1. Mataro 15, 2. Ethnikos 7, 3. FTC 6, 4. Eger 2
Mataro secured another F4 appearance with an easy win in Budapest over Ferencvaros.
Last season’s runners-up stormed to a 2-5 lead in eight minutes, then the Hungarians stunned them with a 3-0 run for 5-5.
At this point some might have smelled a surprise outcome, however, the Spaniards responded with two goals before the middle break and went on with a 0-4 blast in the third.
Indeed, they shut out the hosts for 15:24 minutes while producing a 0-8 run to go 5-13 up and that landed their fifth win in the series.
Fun fact: Mataro’s Hungarian ace Rita Keszthelyi played a great game, however, FTC’s young goalie Alexandra Kiss managed to save her compatriot’s penalty, not once but twice.
Ethnikos regained the second place by beating Eger in an action-packed game. Ereni Ninou hit six as the Greeks took charge in the third period to make it 7-3 and never looked back after.
Group D
Vouliagmeni NC (GRE) v Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE) 9-14, CN Mediterrani (ESP) v UVSE Budapest (HUN) 12-18
Standings: 1. Olympiacos 15, 2. Vouliagmeni 9, 3. UVSE 6, 4. Mediterrani 0
Eleni Xenaki led Olympiacos’ charge with five goals as the 2021 and 2022 champions secured their F4 berth with a fine victory in the neighbouring Vouliagmeni pool.
Olympiacos, which missed the finals only twice in the last seven editions, sent a strong message early on and rushed to a 1-4 lead in eight minutes.
By halftime they were 2-7 up and seemed to be in charge, however, the host side had a fine rush in the third and climbed back to 6-8.
Some crazy moments finished this quarter, three goals were hit in the last 12 seconds and Olympiacos took the better of it as they managed to expand the gap to three, 7-10, before the final eight minutes.
And they added two more for 7-12 to bury any remaining excitements and sailed away with the win.
UVSE blew Mediterrani away in Barcelona – the Magyars were on fire and equalled the single-game scoring record in the prelims (18 goals, was achieved four times in the previous rounds).
The Hungarians weren’t disturbed by a rare scenario where they lost their goalie Alda Magyari – also the netminder of the world silver medallist national team – who was red carded at the end of the third as she settled a minor fight by shooting the opposite player with the ball.
